Broadstairs continued their winning streak with a convincing win against New Beckenham.
Stand-in skipper Chris Kidd lost the toss and Broadstairs were asked to field on an energy sapping humid day. George Kidd took only 3 deliveries to pick up the first wicket with Jay accepting the catch at first slip.
Bradley Ellison at the other end was beating the bat with regular occurrence but had to wait until his fourth over when he clean-bowled Perks. A wicket in each of his next 2 overs, one caught by Harry Carter at mid-off and a caught behind by Andy Bailey and the visitors were 42-4 from 12.
Brad finished his spell (10-3-20-3) and George then switched to bowling up the hill and after a 36-run partnership he made the breakthrough, Jay taking another catch at slip and when George (8-0-37-3) got his third via an Andy Bailey stumping; the London side were 96-6 after 28.
Carter, Flint and Fox all had brief spells but were unable to pick up any wickets. With another frustrating stand it was the combination of Jay (7-0-21-2) and Chris Kidd (9.5–1-24-2) who closed the innings, firstly Jay trapping Naeem LBW and then George Kidd taking a catch to dismiss Barrett. Chris then cleaned-up the remaining two wickets, one LBW and one bowled leaving Broadstairs to chase 187 to win.
A decent effort in the field but lack of discipline with the ball saw us give away 44 extras, 33 of which were wides!
Jay and Nathan opened up after tea and we got off to a flier, with inconsistent bowling and both batters eager to pounce on every scoring opportunity, making use of the lightning-quick outfield.
Jay(49) was on the verge of his half century when an inside edge found the stumps and Alex replaced him in the eleventh over, with 107 required.
Nathan and Alex then dug in, the visiting bowlers had found a better length and tightened their line. Natty scored his 500th run and also brought-up his fifth half century of the season and the two together flattened any hope the opposition had of taking all the points.
Nathan eventually fell for 59, bowled around his legs and the 60-run partnership was broken. Alex (34) followed soon after caught on the boundary and when George (3) was adjudged LBW we had gone from 138-1 to 167-4.
Bailey wasn’t in the mood to hang around through. A quick fire 30* from just 16 deliveries gave the watching crowd some excitement and saw us reach the required total in the 38th over.
A convincing victory despite not being at our best with the ball. Something we need to rectify on our travels to Nonington this week